LAYING OUT OF GROUNDS. 175 



lie in its wild and unkempt condition, the contrast of 

 extreme care at the house-side with such savagery, 

 will be all the more engaging. And if the beauty of 

 the outer landscapes lie merely in graceful and undu- 

 lating forms, care around the doorstep will be requi- 

 site to mark definitely the outflow of the domestic 

 wants and influences. The path I tread ten times a 

 day should be smooth ; the patch of croquet ground 

 should be reduced to absolute level, and any intrud- 

 ing tussock be shorn away from reach of the tender- 

 footed gamesters ; but the walk along the further 

 hill-side, where I go only after a long reach of days, 

 may be only a tramped foot-path on the sward ; and 

 the stretch of turf-land where the Alderneys are feed- 

 ing may have its eyelets of dandelion and golden 

 buttercups. But the care and order of which I speak 

 should not be a finical nicety. Martinetism is odious 

 everywhere. It must be a care that shall conceal 

 itself that shall be marked by the lack of every- 

 thing disagreeable, and not be cognizable by traces 

 of a recent broom or roller. The scar of a spade-cut 

 is an unpleasant reminder of the art which is best 

 when all traces of its mechanical devices are out of 

 sight. Of course, there must be clippings and roll- 

 ings, but they should be so deftly done, and with such 

 watchfulness, as regards season, as to make the 

 observer forget they had ever been used. 



